Category Archives: Investment management

Mitch McConnell to State Pension Funds: Drop Dead

Prominent Republicans are threatening to gore the public pension fund ox.

Hissy Fit by CalPERS Board: Falsely Blames Margaret Brown for Staff Leaks of CIO Meng’s $1 Billion Giveup, Public Opposition to Staff Coup

Sports fans, it seems hard to believe, but the CalPERS board has sunk to a new low with an extended display of incompetence and pique.

Press Ferrets Out More Falsehoods by CalPERS CIO Ben Meng, Evidence of Poor Leadership, in Giving Up >$1 Billion Hedge Payday

CalPERS’ embattled CIO Ben Meng digs his $1 billion hole deeper with not-credible defenses. Tell the board not to cede more authority to him.

CalPERS Staff Seeks to Strip Board of Remaining Authority Even as Press Exposes Multi-Billion Cost of Lack of Supervision; Elected Board Members Thumb Nose at Public by Seeking to Be Paid for Doing Almost Nothing

CalPERS staff is up to more dirty tricks. Push back by e-mail in public comments. Bad press already has them on the back foot.

Taleb Questions CalPERS Ben Meng’s Competence and Honesty in Defending Missed $1 Billion Hedge Gain; Taleb Estimates CalPERS Net Loss on Meng’s “Alternative Mitigation” Over Two Years at $19 Billion

Nassim Nicholas Taleb calls out one of CalPERS CIO Ben Meng’s Big Lies, and unearths an even bigger one.

A Payments Holiday is More Realistic Than You Think

It may be simpler to enact a payments holiday than to try to get money to the hands of individuals who desperately need it.

Damning New Story on CalPERS Sacrificing $1 Billion Hedge Profits Confirms Doubts About Chief Investment Officer Ben Meng’s Competence

More evidence that CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Ben Meng is over his head.

Labor Admits Superannuation Is a Ponzi Scheme

An Australian proposal would put stressed superannuation funds in even more trouble.

CalPERS Dumps Risk Hedge Right Before Coronacrash, Sacrificing $1 Billion and Confirming Doubts About Chief Investment Officer Ben Meng’s Expertise

CalPERS supposed star hire Ben Meng just cost the giant fund $1 billion, over the objections of expert adviser Wilshire Associates.

Key Official Missing in Action: North Carolina Treasurer, Sole Fiduciary of Its Pension, Has Covid-19 but State Refuses to Say More

Key public officials are abusing their position if they keep the severity of their Covid-19 illness under wraps.

CalPERS’ Dishonest Response to Representative Jim Banks Regarding Chief Investment Officer Ben Meng and CalPERS’ Chinese Investments

Rep.Jim Banks pressed CalPERS on dodgy Chnese investments. CalPERS gave Banks a free shot via flagrant lies, but will Banks catch on?

Yet More Finance Profiteering: Green Bonds

Count on Wall Street to find a profit angle in actual or pending disaster. Green bonds are becoming a hot idea.

SEC With Investment Managers: “Like the FBI Sitting Down With the Mafia”

A law firm partner discusses SEC capture as if it were perfectly normal….which sadly, it is.

Debt Has Not Been Caused by Low Interest Rates, but Higher Rates Would Topple the Whole World Economy

Yet more official hand-wringing about interest rates…when they aren’t the core economic problem.

Estuaries, Climate Change, and “Blue Carbon”

Estuaries defined, whether they are carbon sources or carbon sinks, and an excursion into the world of climate NGOs through “blue carbon.”